


An Apology of Ciscos

by lavendersblues (lonely_lovebird)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU after Season 4, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And then talking to Harry, Do not post to another site, First Kiss, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Resolved Romantic Tension, Seriously just a fic of Cisco talking to himself, in which the author takes serious liberty with the multiverse theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24503947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonely_lovebird/pseuds/lavendersblues
Summary: It's amulti-verse and Cisco should have known better than to think there was only Cisco Prime and Reverb. One late night in the Speed Lab Cisco gets a strangely pleasant surprise.What could all of these Cisco Ramon's be doing calling him on the Multiverse Holo-Projector?
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Earth-2 Harrison "Harry" Wells
Comments: 11
Kudos: 80





	1. An Apology

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally self-indulgent garbage when I had the idea that what if H. Lothario's....dance partner as it were, during that first Council of Wells, was his Earth's Cisco. Why else would he assume that Cisco had "seen it before"? So I wrote this!

After Harry left, Cisco thought he wasn’t going to need the multiverse holo-projector anymore. There weren’t going to be any more Council of Wellses or Council of Harrisons. And it wasn’t as if anyone ever called him on the holo-projector (especially now that he and Cynthia were over). So it was surprising to hear the incoming call alert when he was alone in the middle of the lab on another all-nighter.

The beeping was incessant, it chirped every two seconds at him as he morosely made his way into the speed lab. The projector hadn’t been deconstructed since the Council of Harrisons, and Cisco tried hard not to think about it.

He assumed the caller was likely one of the Harrisons, or even one of the Wellses (though privately he hoped not because if he ever saw Herr Wolfgang again he was going to punch him in the face, hologram or not).

It might even have been Harry, and that thought sent a little thrill through his chest.

He tamped it down and put on his best angry face, clicking the answer button.

_ “What.” _

It was the most intimidating greeting he could come up with -- with such short notice. He was fully prepared to see one of the jackass Wellses back to gloat at Harry but instead --

He was looking at a Cisco.

“What?” his voice cracked slightly. The Cisco in front of him looked nearly identical to himself but was clearly  _ not _ himself, and not Reverb either. He was dressed in something vaguely pretentious (was that a turtleneck? God, in what universe did he wear  _ turtlenecks) _ but in his trademark color scheme of black red and yellow.

And he was wearing ridiculous vibe goggles that somehow made him look even more...douchebag.

“Oh, good you’re here!” Alt-Cisco grinned. The accent coming out of his mouth was also ridiculous, Cisco Prime had to note. Spanish? Like…  _ Spain _ Spanish? “-- we were getting worried. Hold on, let me just…” And Alt-Cisco reached down to something invisible in the holo-projector and tweaked some kind of knob and suddenly Cisco was surrounded by…

A Council of Ciscos.

“This is trippy…” he muttered, still reeling. He’d been awake for sixteen hours and he wasn’t entirely sure this wasn’t just a warped dream and he wasn’t somehow asleep on the Cortex floor.

Alt-Cisco 1 waved his hand in a somewhat familiar manner. Cisco couldn’t quite place it but he didn’t have time to focus because there was that Spanish accent -- like Alt-Cisco was Antonio Banderas.

“You get used to it. We should introduce ourselves, yes?” He glanced at the other Cisco’s, both of them in wildly differing outfits that still somehow seemed familiar to Cisco Prime. “Yes, I’m Franciso Anastasio Ramon, you can call me Anastasio. I’m from Earth-12.”

Cisco openly gaped at Anastasio. He was from Herr Wolfgang’s earth? He  _ thought _ the turtleneck looked familiar…

The next Cisco waved. He was wearing some kind of ridiculous robe or housecoat. It was a nice muted blue color that really did something for his complexion -- Cisco made a note to find a jacket in that color immediately.

“Hello, I’m Franciso Juan Ramon, Earth-47 resident -- genuinely pleased to meet you.” His grin was a tad bit on the frisky side and Cisco had to bite back any comments about flirting with himself. But for someone from H. Lothario’s earth, maybe flirting was just a natural state of being.

Maybe Cisco should take a vacation to Earth-47… Wait, no, he was getting off track.

Last, but by no means least, next to Francisco Juan was a Cisco that Cisco Prime could jive with. He was dressed down in a plain black t-shirt, and a pair of coveralls that were tied at the waist (like Kaylee from Firefly - and never let it be said that Cisco didn’t mind taking fashion advice from his sci-fi). The coveralls were clearly well loved and worn, and there were grease stains aplenty across his arms, and even one on his cheekbone.

“Hey, I’m just -- I’m just Cisco. But I guess you can call me Cisco 2.0 if it helps?” He shrugged. “I’m from Earth-22.”

_ That _ was surprising to Cisco, who practically yelped. “What?!  _ He said he ate you!” _

The group of assembled Cisco’s seemed to be unsurprised by the statement and didn’t even seem confused as to who Cisco was referencing because they all sighed and shook their heads. Cisco 2.0 (without a seeming stitch of cybernetics on him) shrugged and gave Cisco Prime a rueful smile.

“He does that.”

“So, not that this isn’t like wildly cool or anything,” Cisco said with some concern, “but what are you doing here and what do you want with me? Is this a thing? Are we starting a Cisco council? Because I’mma be honest with y’all, I’m way too in over my head to be on a council right now.”

Anastasio barked a laugh and the others shortly followed, chuckling.

“No, my friend, we’re not starting a Council. We’re… well,” and here Anastasio looked chagrined. “We’re here to apologize.”

There was a long moment of silence that echoed through the speed lab as Cisco tried to process what had been said. There was a council of Cisco’s appearing at three in the morning to apologize to Cisco?

“Apologize for what?” he finally asked. “I’ve never met you before in my life.”

Cisco 2.0 jumped in quickly. “It’s not an apology from us, it’s...an apology on behalf of our somewhat… overzealous Harrisons.” He looked mildly uncomfortable and Cisco could relate. Offering an apology on behalf of Harry wasn’t something he would have signed up to do for any Cisco, no matter what Harry had done.

“We know how Harry was treated during that entire Thinking Cap incident,” Anastasio sighed. “Wolfgang isn’t the most friendly of fellows at the best of times, and he has a tendency to get lost without moral guidance.”

Wow, the Antonio Banderas was really working for Francisco Anastasio -- Cisco was going to have to remember that as well.

“Okay…” Cisco drawled finally. “So why aren’t you apologizing to Harry?”

“Oh, we did,” Francisco Juan grinned. Cisco could almost hear a hint of a drawl at the edges of his words as if he’d spent too much time with H. Lothario. “But then Harry told us how the Harrisons treated  _ you _ and we had to add that to our apology list.”

Cisco remembered the first meeting with the Council of Wells and shrugged. “It’s not the worst crap I’ve ever taken from a Wells, and it probably won’t be the last. You don’t have to apologize for them.”

Cisco 2.0’s face grew hard. “But we do -- they should know better. But given they lack the emotional capacity of a toddler...well.”

“Hey, speak for your own Wells, Lothario’s a gentleman,” Francisco Juan smirked.

Cisco squinted at Francisco Juan. “Didn’t H. Lothario get kicked off the Council of Wells for being too emotional? Why are you apologizing to me, he made it up to me when he helped Harry on the Council of Harrisons.”

Francisco Juan grinned. “I’m just apologizing for him flashing you. That was… my fault.”

And with that Cisco stumbled, quite literally, over his own two feet -- crash landing on the hard concrete of the Speed Lab. He blinked up at the amused trio of Cisco’s who were watching him with expressions that he couldn’t quite read. As if they were all in on some massive secret that Cisco himself wasn’t aware of...yet.

“I’m sorry, what?!”

Francisco Juan shrugged as if it were no big deal. “It was dress-up night.”

Anastasio pinched the brow of his nose and took a deep breath. “This is why Wolfgang can’t stand you or H. Lothario. He constantly says you both think with the wrong brain.”

Francisco Juan smirked. “Maybe you need to teach ol’ Wolfy to take the edge off every once in a while. Get that stick out of his ass and get something a little more fun --”

Cisco jumped to his feet, throwing both hands wide. “Alright,  _ stop right there!” _

All the Cisco’s turned to face him with carefully controlled blank expressions. Cisco knew that one -- he’d practiced it in the mirror enough times to recognize it.

“This is really nice of you, honestly, but I still don’t see how this apology is relevant. Also, what’s your deal?” He gesticulated wildly at Cisco 2.0. “I thought you came from a world where man and machine had become one but you look perfectly normal!”

“Yeah, nah, my legs are cybernetic,” Cisco 2.0 grinned. “I’m Wells 2.0’s main mechanic and I know he tends to traumatize other Cisco’s with the cannibalism thing. Still don’t know why. So, sorry for that one. He’s really much better once you get to know him.”

“Like your Harry,” Francisco Juan supplied with a gentle smile.

“See, yeah, okay, that’s what I don’t get. Harry’s not ‘my’ anything,” Cisco shouldn’t have sounded so bitter but he felt it, deep in the recesses of his chest. Harry had been gone and then they got him back for him to just  _ leave _ \-- and he wasn’t coming back. This wasn’t a temporary visit to see Jesse. This wasn’t a trip to settle things at STAR Labs before coming back to the team.

He didn’t think he had any value without his intellect and he  _ wasn’t coming back. _

Anastasio seemed the most surprised. “You mean you’re not…?” He cocked his head to the side as if to evaluate Cisco for something. “But Wolfgang said you had all of the correct markers of a romantic couple. Deferring to you, defending you, flirting with you.”

Cisco thought that the laugh he belted out was an appropriate response but the Council of Ciscos clearly thought he’d lost it given their mildly concerned expressions and the heavy sideways glancing between the three of them.

“Okay, no. No this -- whatever you three have going on with your Harrison Wellses? That’s not a thing. And even if I did have a ‘my’ Wells, it would have been the one from this earth but he was married and then also murdered and had his identity stolen and… yeah, anyway,” Cisco waved a hand at the groups collected shocked expressions.

“Harry’s from Earth-2, where I -- where  _ we _ \-- happened to be evil.”

Francisco Juan stared at him hard. “But he’s still here more than he is on Earth-2, isn’t he? He helps your team, he spends his time with you and not  _ literally _ anywhere else?” His mouth ticked up into a hint of a genuine smile, the first he’d shown since appearing. “Wellses don’t know how to express themselves, generally speaking. H. Lothario is one of the exceptions.”

“Sometimes you have to drag it out of them,” Cisco 2.0 laughed. “But he cares. If he’s anything like Wells 2.0, he cares.”

Cisco squinted at Cisco 2.0. “Okay, sidebar, do you actually call your Wells ‘Wells 2.0’ or are you doing that for my benefit?”

Cisco 2.0 smiled. “He’s my Harry.”

“Oh this is just  _ freaky.” _ Cisco felt weak at the knees and he gave into the compulsion he’d been fighting to hop up and sit on the table, letting his legs dangle as he looked at his multiverse dopplegangers. He’d wondered if any of his doppelgangers were like him or if they were all like Reverb and he was the exception. But looking at them now… The multiverse was well taken care of with these Cisco Ramons.

“Well, your apology is too late,” Cisco sighed. “Harry’s gone. He went back to Earth-2. Your Harrisons might...feel about you the way that they do, but mine doesn’t. And even if I wanted him to (which maybe I do, I hadn’t thought about it) -- he’s got a life there.” And Cisco felt the sting of Cynthia’s admission that living separately had been enough rising at the back of his throat.

Because that was his lot in life. No one chose Cisco in the end.

Francisco Juan scoffed, drawing all the attention back to him. “Of the three of us, my Lothario also got kicked off the Council of Wells. And you know what he said to me? He said that he could see the emotions plain as day on Harry’s face. Maybe Harry left because he was afraid of you seeing them and turning him down.”

“Um, why would he want me?” Cisco countered, gesturing to his day-old nerd shirt and pants that were starting to get a little rank. “He has a daughter. He was  _ married. _ To like -- the love of his life --,”

“Tess!” The trio chorused with affection.

“We know,” Anastasio smiled. “I think there’s only one Wells in the multiverse that hasn’t at some point been in love with Tess Morgan, but no one really likes him so we don’t talk about him.”

“You mean,” Cisco’s hand came up to point at each alternate Cisco individually.  _ “All _ of your Harrisons had a Tess?”

Cisco 2.0 grinned. “Well he certainly didn’t have a daughter with  _ me. _ But my Harry and his Tess didn’t have quite a happy story like yours, and Jesse got caught in the middle. Why do you think he lost the eye?”

Francisco Juan shrugged. “Tess died a long time ago and H. Lothario has been grieving ever since. I’m probably the first person (out of a line of  _ many) _ that have been let into his life in the same way.”

Cisco looked at Anastasio who sighed. “They’re divorced. He loves her though. And I think she loves him. But despite that, she couldn’t  _ live _ with him. I guess that’s just something that all Cisco’s are good at. Living with Harrison Wells and his eccentricities.”

Cisco thought about the long nights spent at the lab, falling asleep against each other on the couch during breaks, excitedly talking across the STAR Labs whiteboards, the easy smiles that Harry seemed to sport during the last year, even more than he’d done when he first joined the team.

Harry’s wink when he quoted  _ Wrath of Khan _ and Cisco’s wildly beating heart in response. He’d written it off as adrenaline from waiting to see if Marlize’s code had worked to restore Harry, but maybe it was something else.

That final goodbye, Harry’s hand heavy on his shoulder as he looked to the ground.

_ “I love you, too.” _

An answer to something Cisco hadn’t even known he’d been trying to say.

“So what do I do?” Cisco looked at his doppelgangers helplessly. “He’s gone. He’s not coming back. He thinks he’s useless because he’s just average smart instead of genius smart. He’s got a life with Jesse and an entire STAR Labs to run. He won’t…”  _ choose me. _ The words went unsaid but Cisco believed them.

“You never know until you try,” Francisco Juan beamed.

Cisco glared. “This apology sure has turned into an intervention real quick.”

“Well, we are still sorry,” Cisco 2.0 said. “We know that our Harrisons can get a little out of hand when confronted with other Ciscos. We’ve never figured out why though.”

“Are you telling me you’ve been meeting up with other Ciscos regularly and I haven’t been invited?” Cisco was almost a little hurt.

“We knew you had The Thinker on your hands,” Anastasio waved off his hurt quickly. “We only got together after our Harrisons joined the Council of Wells. But we meet up every so often, either in person or through the holo-projector.”

“How many of you can vibe?”

The three glanced at each other and shook their heads. “I think only the Ciscos from Earth-2, Earth-17, Earth-40, and you can vibe. But there’s a Vibe on my earth,” Cisco 2.0 said. “Her name is Gypsy. She’ll open breaches for us every so often if I promise to bring her any chocolate we find on raids.”

Somehow the sting of Cynthia suddenly hurt less. Cisco didn’t look too closely at why. He was already trying to decide how to talk to Harry about everything he’d learned and everything he felt. He quickly realized why Harry had been so resistant to the Council of Harrisons. Talking about your emotions, even with a full vocabulary, was hard.

“Well you can count me in for future meet-ups if your advice doesn’t get me murdered by Harry throwing something through my head,” Cisco finally said. “But don’t expect any details!” He glared at Francisco Juan who winked.

Cisco still wasn’t ready to wrap his head around Francisco Juan being the person H. Lothario had been talking to off camera at that first meeting. It was too weird. First things first, he needed to get things straight with his Harry.

Or  _ not _ straight, as it were.

“You let us know how it goes,” Anastasio said with a smile. “But maybe get some sleep first.”

“And change your clothes,” Francisco Juan sniffed. “You can do better than that.”

Cisco turned to Cisco 2.0 and waited. “What, no parting wisdom?”

Cisco 2.0 shrugged and smiled. “We’ll see you later, Cisco.”

And with that the holo-projector cut off and the Council of Ciscos disappeared leaving Cisco Prime with an empty Speed Lab, a heart full of something he wasn’t ready to name, and the determination to settle things once and for all with Harry Wells.

He sniffed his shirt and blanched.

Maybe  _ after _ he got some sleep and a shower.


	2. An Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is surprised by a Holo-Projector call.

“Hey Dad?” Jesse Quick’s voice was warm as she poked her head around the corner of Harry Wells’ home office. After returning to Earth-2 he’d turned over the running of STAR Labs to his right-hand, Christina McGee, and turned into a recluse as he read countless papers and studies on bringing back even a fraction of his intellect.

He looked up and smiled at Jesse who had a suspicious spark in her eye. “Yes, Quick?”

Jesse’s smile was mischievous. “There’s a call for you on the Holo-Projector.”

Harry paused, setting down the massive textbook he’d been perusing. He’d never been so popular until he’d lost his intelligence -- suddenly he was getting calls non-stop from H. Lothario, Sunny Wells, and even a few of the Council of Wells rejects that hadn’t joined the Council of Harrisons. 

Most recently he’d had a call from a Council of Cisco’s -- all there to apologize for how the Council of Wells’ had responded to Harry’s Thinking Cap crisis. Harry had been quick to wave off the apology. He was a Wells, he knew what was going through their heads. He liked to think he was past that level of selfish interest, but in whatever ways he’d improved he could only thank Cisco for. The other Wells’ clearly hadn’t caught on despite the three very charming Francisco Ramon’s they had on their respective Earths.

But after telling the Council of Cisco’s about how his own Cisco had been treated by the respective Wells’, all three had looked chagrined.

“They don’t like other Cisco’s,” Francisco Anastasio said ruefully. “Something about seeing our doppelgangers unsettles them.”

Looking at a room full of Cisco’s, Harry couldn’t exactly blame them. He was also unsettled. But he’d learned enough to treat the other Cisco’s with the respect that they deserved. The assembled group immediately made a plan to apologize to  _ his _ Cisco before hanging up the call and Harry felt warmth spreading in his chest. Maybe that would bring a smile to Cisco’s face, an apology from his doppelgangers.

The group of assembled Cisco’s were like a pack of puppies compared to the near murder of crows vibe that the assembled Harrison Wellses always seemed to exude. Harry smiled at the memory of the determination of all the Francisco Ramons. 

_ An Apology of Ciscos. _

But that had been three weeks ago. It didn’t explain why he had a call on the Holo-Projector now.

“Is it the Harrisons?” Harry asked his daughter warily. She grinned and shook her head.

“The Wellses?”

Again, another negative.

Harry squinted. “Is it the Ciscos?”

The resulting smile was proof enough and Harry tried to tamp down the slightly pleased feeling he had at being able to talk to a Cisco Ramon again. It wasn’t the same, they weren’t  _ his _ Cisco, but they were all incredibly clever and witty and fun to listen to even when Harry couldn’t always keep up.

Harry pushed away from his desk and sighed, following Jesse down through the depths of the Wells’ family home until they reached Harry’s version of a lab, where he’d set up the Holo-Projector to continue having weekly meetings with the Harrisons.

The plush carpet shifted to hard and cold concrete and Harry waved Jesse off as he went to the beeping Holo-Projector. His daughter grinned before flashing away with a gust of wind and electricity that left his skin tingling. Harry would probably never be over his daughter having super speed, but he would still support her -- even if all he could support her with was being there for her.

With his thoughts drifting too close to the painful reality that Harry would never be able to support another Flash again, he pressed the answer button on the beeping machine and waited as the holograms loaded.

Or, rather, hologram -- singular.

A perfect image of Cisco Ramon -- the Cisco Ramon of Earth-1 -- slowly fizzled into view. Harry felt his breath catch. Cisco had clearly cleaned up for this call, he wasn’t wearing a graphic t-shirt but was instead dressed in one of his nicer button downs with the nice jeans he used to joke were his date jeans. His hair looked perfect, silky and soft, and not like it did when Cisco spent too long in the workshop, frazzled and grease stained.

“Hi Harry,” Cisco waved, clearly nervous.

Harry was gobsmacked. “Cisco? What? Why are you calling on the Multiverse Holo-Projector? Can’t you breach over? Did something happen? Is everyone okay? Do you--”

Cisco put his hands up quickly, in an attempt to stem the flow of worry from Harry’s deeply buried anxieties. “Whoa, easy there Harry. Everything is fine. I just figured this would be easier to get a hold of you. You, uh, you wouldn’t believe the call I got on this thing the other day.”

Harry arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “An Apology of Ciscos?”

Cisco grinned and barked out a short laugh. “That’s cute, I like that. Did you come up with that on your own? Like a murder of crows -- an apology of Cicos. Does this mean when there’s more than one Cisco we’re always apologizing?”

“Seemed appropriate,” Harry shrugged. “They came to apologize to me about how the other Harrison Wells’ acted. I told them they should really be apologizing to you.”

Cisco smiled and tilted his head. The way his hair fell against his shoulder made Harry’s pulse quicken. “Yeah, they did. Can you believe Wells 2.0 lying about eating Cisco 2.0 though? What a weirdo!”

Harry smiled. It felt so easy to talk to Cisco, as if he’d never left the adorable engineer behind. It made his heart hurt. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch the deep mahogany curls but he knew he’d only feel air and see the fizzle of hologram pixels disrupting in the air.

“I was equally surprised when he showed up in my lab on the projector. I’m guessing that’s just Wells 2.0’s intimidation tactic -- insinuate he’s eaten the doppelganger version of whoever else he meets. Their world is really strange.”

“Tell me about it, Cisco 2.0 has cybernetic legs. He totally let me breach over and look at them too.”

“I bet that was an interesting trip,” Harry teased. He could imagine Cisco out of place on the feral ground of Earth-22, risking his life just to get a look at some interesting mechanics. All Cisco’s really were the same, deep down in their hearts.

Probably even Reverb, though he had no objective data. Harry knew he was slightly biased when it came to Cisco.

“It was...something,” Cisco squeaked, scrunching his nose in that adorable way he was prone to do when he was uncomfortable. He brushed past the topic quickly. “But, uh, that’s not why I called. I wanted to check up on you? See how you’re doing?”

Harry’s heart panged. “Oh, you know. The usual. Working on the ol’ noggin, trying to get back to a point where I could reasonably sit in on a STAR Labs meeting and not get a migraine.”

Cisco laughed, a bright happy sound. “Whether you have seven PhDs or not, I don’t think executive meetings will ever not result in migraines. I used to make Hartley go for our department when STAR Labs was still running over here. Boy am I glad that Barry inherited the Lab so we don’t have to deal with the bureaucratic nonsense anymore.”

“Alas,” Harry teased, “not something I’ve been blessed with on this Earth. Our Barry is just a nerdy CSI -- not a superhero with an archnemesis with a grudge that caused him to travel back in time, murder Barry’s mother, replace a doppleganger of myself, and then turn the Labs over to Barry upon his death by paradox.”

Cisco scrunched his nose again, but in the way that meant that Harry was on the mark. “Yeah, well, you’re clearly still as sassy as ever, no matter what you think you’re missing.”

Harry was suddenly sorely tempted to mimic the late hat wearing doppelganger and give a little bow, but he resisted. “Gee, thanks Cisco. I’ve missed you too.”

At his words, Cisco mellowed, watching Harry with dark brown eyes. “Did...did the Ciscos tell you why they were apologizing to you? And by that same token, also me?”

Harry shrugged, his heart beating a little harder in his chest. “They...mentioned a few reasons. Why?”

Cisco ran a hand through his hair, leaving it slightly off balance, and Harry wanted nothing more than to reach over and straighten it back to it’s previously parted state. Cisco’s skin was flush and he was avoiding looking Harry directly in the eyes as he scuffed a shoe against what Harry knew was probably the Speed Lab cement flooring.

“Um, they said a few things. Their apology kind of turned into an intervention actually. But I didn’t want to talk to you about it until I was ready. And I think I’m ready. Maybe.” He still looked unsure. Harry wanted to wrap him in a hug and never let go.

“Maybe?” Harry asked, teasingly.

Cisco grinned, chagrined. “Well, I’m calling you on the Holo-Projector, aren’t I? If this goes horribly I can just kill the connection. But if it doesn’t, well, I can breach to wherever you are in a heartbeat.”

“That’s true.” Harry tried not to get his hopes up but it was useless. That emotional balance he’d developed after the Thinking Cap meant that he couldn’t put off his feelings as easily as he used to, when all he had to worry about were his smarts and outsmarting everyone else -- his peers, his competitors, and his team’s villains.

Cisco still managed to surprise him when he abruptly seemed to shift gears and blurted out -- “Did you know H. Lothario was with Francisco Juan when he flashed us in the Speed Lab that day?”

Harry choked on air and he had to put a hand on the closest physical object (a wobbly lamp that tilted dangerously under his weight) to remain upright. “W-What?!” he practically yelped, staring at Cisco with a mix of abject horror and confusion.

“Yeah, I know, right?” Cisco’s voice was high and breathy. “So he apologized to me for that whole... _ thing, _ and then Francisco Anastasio -- Herr Wolfgang’s Cisco? -- said Herr Wolfgang thought that we,” he gestured frantically between himself and Harry then, “were in a relationship because of how we acted.”

Harry may not have had his genius level intellect anymore but he paused and thought back on his interactions with Cisco and had to tilt his head in admission. They did have a sort of couple vibe, no pun intended, when they were together. And especially when it was just the two of them -- none of the other members of Team Flash around to comment on their closeness or ‘old married couple’ tendencies.

(Dibney had said that once and had lived to regret it. Harry had managed to spoil every cup of coffee he got from the Labs by dotting the bottom of all of Dibney’s mugs with nail varnish until he took it back.)

“I mean…” Harry trailed off, giving Cisco a look that he knew Cisco would understand immediately. And he was right. Cisco crumpled under his stare and sighed.

“Yeah, I figured that out too, when they were talking.”

“And you don’t...mind?”

Cisco scoffed. “Of course I don’t mind! Are you kidding Harry? Have you  _ seen _ yourself?” He gestured wildly up and down with an open palm at Harry as if that would encapsulate all he was implying. “I’ve got eyes! I just… I never thought that you’d look at me… like that.”

That sent a series of thrills up and down Harry’s spine. Cisco thought he was...handsome? Attractive? Dateable? All of the above? And somehow couldn’t see the absolute level of devotion that Harry had been directing his way since nearly the moment he laid eyes on the man?

If Harry had to be specific, since the moment that Cisco had offered freely to vibe Jesse for Harry -- whenever and wherever he needed it.

“Ramon,” he bit out, stumbled, regrouped and tried again. “Cisco, I -- I don’t…” Cisco’s eyes widened and Harry rushed forward. “I don’t want to say this to a hologram, can you please vibe over here right now?”

Cisco nodded vehemently and on the hologram a breach appeared, followed shortly by a breach opening to his left in the basement lab of his Earth-2 home. Cisco stepped out, looking just the same as he had before, nice shirt, date jeans, and that terrified hopeful expression as he wrung the ends of his shirt in his hands.

They stared at each other like two magnets, drawn together, but still kept apart by some unseen force -- a child’s hands, a wooden jig, a parallel Earth.

“You wanted to say something to me?” Cisco prompted, taking a few steps towards Harry who was drawn forward by the movement until they were in each other’s space -- like they always had been when Harry was still part of the team. The other pair to Barry and Iris, the science team to Joe and Dibney’s investigation team, the engineers to Caitlin and Frost’s research science. 

Harry was close enough to Cisco to have to crane his neck slightly to look down into his eyes but it was perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

“Cisco Ramon,” Harry didn’t bother to clear the slight rasp from his throat when he saw the way it made Cisco shiver. “You are one of the most incredible people I have ever met. You’re far too smart to be just an engineer -- you should be running your own company. You’re far too kind to put up with all that you do, from Barry and the team, and especially from me.” Cisco opened his mouth to protest but Harry placed a finger against his lips, forcing himself to stay focused.

“And you’re a hero too good for a world that doesn’t appreciate you. But you are blind if you think I would never look at you... like that.”

Cisco’s jaw was slack. Harry could feel the tension drain through the finger he had against Cisco’s lips. He took that moment of shock and awe to his advantage, pulling the hand away and replacing it with his lips pressed gently to Cisco’s. Cisco, who’s brain seemed to reboot at the press of lips against his, threw himself bodily into the kiss, his arms wrapping around Harry’s neck causing Harry to have to lift his enthusiastic partner slightly to compensate for their staggeringly different heights.

Harry had never kissed someone so much shorter than him before.

He had to say, he quite liked it.

But maybe it was just that he liked kissing Cisco.

Pulling away and setting Cisco back on his feet, Harry took a deep breath and tried to regain some sense of composure. It seemed Cisco was doing the same, the way they were both swaying on their feet, warm and content and buzzing with a kind of energy that they’d generated all that time they were together on Earth-1.

A thrilled squeal disrupted the moment and they jumped apart and gaped as Jesse Quick fist-pumped the air in the doorway, crowing in excitement.  _ “Yes!” _ she shrieked happily. “Yes, yes yes! Finally! I have to go call Wally, he owes me Big Belly Burger!” She paused before speeding off. “Oh, congratulations! I knew you’d get there eventually.” She winked, blitzing away with a burst of electric speed.

“Your daughter had a bet going about us,” Cisco said slowly, the words seemingly taking longer to process. Harry silently preened. Apparently the Thinking Cap hadn’t taken his kissing skills with his intellect.

“Technically so does your second speedster. Which means there’s no telling how many members of Team Flash actually placed bets on this.”

Cisco grinned. “Should we go surprise them and make them buy us burgers as payment for using our personal lives as entertainment?” He lifted a fist as if ready to open a breach back to Earth-1. Harry gently lowered Cisco’s arm and leaned down to press a languid kiss against Cisco’s deliciously full lips.

“Maybe later,” he mumbled after pulling away with a soft smack. “You and I are making up for lost time. And I think Jesse just said she’s going to be out for a while. And I happen to have a very nice bed that I would hate to go to waste.”

Cisco grinned and practically threw himself into Harry’s arms -- Harry, who was all too happy to catch him, bracing his hands under Cisco’s thighs as he turned them towards the hall that led to the bedroom with the very lonely bed that Harry was pleased to know wouldn’t be so lonely after all.

But before they left the lab, Harry reached a hand blindly out and flipped off the Multiverse Holo-Projector with a smile.

He’d have to send a thanks to the Apology of Ciscos later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that the title makes a bit more sense. I was trying to make a joke on like a murder of crows or a congress of baboons -- a group of assembled ciscos is an apology of ciscos... Anyway, the joke probably isn't that good when you have to explain it but this was incredibly self indulgent. There might be a smutty follow up that I'll post as a sequel for those that aren't interested to avoid.
> 
> I had a lot of fun with this. It's cathartic writing get togethers for my under-appreciated OTPs. Thank you for reading! Check me out on tumblr under the same username for more Flash (and other) goodness!


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